They liked the way you made them feel.
The comfort you gave.
The attention they didn’t have to ask for.
The validation you poured out like water
Even when you were running dry.

They never liked you.
You were a placeholder.
A stand-in for someone they thought was coming.
You gave everything
light, softness, safety
without demanding anything in return.

You held their heart like it was your own wound,
even if you weren’t the one who broke it.
You became their peace
when they never once asked how your storm was doing.

They touched you without giving you a name.
Held you without asking about your past.
They didn’t bother to learn you
because you were too easy to read,
and they were too distracted to notice the highlights.

You were the name echoing in their mind
when everything else started crashing.
The voice they didn’t know they craved
until it went silent.

But they lost you.
Not because you were hard to keep,
but because they never tried.

And truth is,
you were never really theirs
because they never held you long enough
to even realize you were worth missing.